MEDIA RELEASE

ATTENTION: Aged care/health/political reporters
10 February 2005


Government challenged to strengthen its agenda for aged care
The National Aged Care Alliance (the Alliance) released recommendations today to strengthen the re-elected Coalition Government’s major program and policy areas in aged care. The Alliance paper, Recommendations for strengthening the Government agenda for aged care covers the areas of: funding, workforce, dementia, linking aged care and health, service planning and service quality.

The Alliance paper claimed that, despite some welcome recent initiatives, the current funding system for residential aged care, both for capital and recurrent costs, is an inadequate basis on which to provide quality care and quality buildings.

The Alliance welcomed the recent measures announced by the Government to address issues relating to dementia, and has made recommendations to Government on how to effectively implement these measures.

Addressing the continuum of care for older people is a key concept in the paper. According to the Alliance, quality community care is critical to the health and independence of the 93% of people over 65 years of age who live in the community and want to be able to remain in their own home for as long as possible. Additionally, health and aged care need to be integrally linked by the introduction of policies to achieve a system of services where access is determined by the needs of people, rather than the particular point of contact or service setting.

The new Alliance paper calls on the Government to introduce a defined and properly costed benchmark of care for aged and community care that specifies both the required quality, as well as the real costs – capital, staffing and operating – of providing quality aged care services.

The Alliance also released today Principles for staffing levels and skills mix in aged care settings and has recommended the Australian Government, as the principal funder and regulator of aged care services, fund research to establish benchmarks for staffing levels and skills mix and inform ongoing workforce planning. Workers in aged care experience heavy workloads and lack of wage parity with other comparable workers, which is affecting the sector’s ability to attract and retain staff.

The Alliance’s papers are available on the Alliance website: www.naca.asn.au

The National Aged Care Alliance (the Alliance) is a representative body of 24 peak national organisations in aged care, including consumer groups, providers, unions, and health professionals, working together to achieve a more positive future for the aged care sector in Australia.

Membership of the Alliance comprises:
Aged & Community Services Australia; Aged Care Association Australia; Alzheimer’s Australia; Anglicare Australia; Australian Association of Gerontology; Australian Divisions of General Practice Ltd; Australian Healthcare Association; Australian Medical Association; Australian Nursing Federation; Australian Pensioners & Superannuants Federation; Australian Physiotherapy Association; Australian Society for Geriatric Medicine; Baptist Care Australia; Carers Australia; Catholic Health Australia; COTA National Seniors; Geriaction; Health Services Union; Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union; Lutheran Church of Australia; Pharmacy Guild of Australia; Royal Australian College of General Practitioners; Royal College of Nursing, Australia; UnitingCare Australia.

For further information about this media release contact: Richard Gray (Catholic Health Australia) 0417 483 469; Greg Mundy (Aged and Community Services Australia) 0416 203 065; Mukesh Haikerwal (Australian Medical Association) 0407 599 332; Kate Hurrell (Geriaction) 0411 889 220; Rod Young (Aged Care Association Australia) 0419 624 178; Jill Iliffe (Australian Nursing Federation) 0419 576 590; Glenn Rees (Alzheimer's Australia) 0419 303 407.